Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Crocosmia masonorumxc3x97crocosmiiflora cultivar Cropom.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Crocosmia plant, botanically known as Crocosmia masonorumxc3x97crocosmiiflora, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Cropomxe2x80x99.
The new Crocosmia is the product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in County Meath, Ireland. The purpose of the breeding program is to create new Crocosmia cultivars with larger and more open flowers that are held upright on the plant.
The new Crocosmia originated from a cross-pollination of an unnamed selection of Crocosmia masonorum, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent, with an unnamed selection of Crocosmia crocosmiiflora, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Cropom was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in 1997 in County Meath, Ireland.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by divisions of corms taken at Bressingham, United Kingdom, since the autumn of 1998, has shown that the unique features of this new Crocosmia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Cropom have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Cropomxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Cropomxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright and somewhat outwardly arching plant habit.
2. Freely flowering habit.
3. Large yellow and red bi-colored flowers that face mostly upright.
Plants of the new Crocosmia differ from plants of the parent selections primarily in flower color as plants of the female parent selection have orange red-colored flowers and plants of the male parent selection have yellow-colored flowers. In addition, flowers of plants of the new Crocosmia are more upright-facing than flowers of plants of the parent selections.
Plants of the new Crocosmia can be compared to plants of the Crocosmia cultivar Pomry, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in County Meath, Ireland, plants of the new Crocosmia differed from plants of the cultivar Pomry primarily in flower color as plants of the cultivar Pomry had bright red-colored flowers.